Mount Notre Dame graduate and USWNT soccer player Rose Lavelle
Rose Lavelle talks to Cincinnati media as she prepares to play with the USWNT at TQL Stadium June 29. Video courtesy of U.S. Soccer/Vertione
Rose Lavelle is coming back to play in her hometown.
The United States Women’s National Team announced Wednesday that the Mount Notre Dame graduate will be in uniform then they play three friendlies this summer, including June 29 against Ireland at TQL Stadium. That news came with the unveiling of their full training camp roster for the matches.
Lavelle, who turned 30 in May, had been out for six months with an ankle injury that required surgery. She recently returned to action for her Gotham FC club in the National Women’s Soccer League, coming on as a substitute for the final 15 minutes during two games on June 7 and June 13.
She helped the USWNT win the 2024 Olympic gold medal in France but has not played for the National Team since the end of 2024. The Mount Notre Dame grad currently has 110 career caps and 24 career goals for the USA, including in the 2019 World Cup which she played a key role in the USWNT winning.
Lavelle is currently in New York City with Gotham FC. She addressed her injury and the joy she feels coming back to Cincinnati in a virtual interview session from there with local media Tuesday in advance of the announcement.
“It just so special,” she said. “Everything is so much joy, bringing everyone to Cincinnati, show them how great a city it is.”
On how her ankle is coming back from major surgery
“It was a pretty big surgery, so it honestly might be a while until my ankle is 100 percent,” she said. “The rest of me feels great, though, so that’s a good thing. (The surgery) was kind of treacherous. I definitely didn’t know what all coming back from surgery entailed, so it was a harder process than I anticipated. But the med staff at Gotham has been great. I felt in such great hands. They really took great care of me and helped me get back to the point where I am, to be in the position to get back into camp and to get back into the game for Gotham. It was definitely a really, really tough process, but I think I’m better for it and I feel really grateful for the support system I had throughout it all.”
She said because she has only played limited minutes with Gotham so far that it’s unlikely she’ll play the full 90 minutes in Cincinnati, but she’s working on it.
“Coming back from injury, how much I’ll be available to play, hopefully some good amount, but obviously I can’t go in and play maximum minutes,” she said. “It’s my first camp back in and everybody’s mentality going into camp is ‘I have to go back in and earn spots.’ It’s something (that) having been in camp and with the national team for so long, it’s a familiar position I’m in, to go back and an environment where we really have to compete and push each other.”
Missing six months has helped Rose Lavelle have time to reflect on her career
The ankle injury is the most serious one Lavelle has dealt with in her career, but it has come at a decent time in the soccer schedule.
“Any time I’ve had to take time away from the game, specifically when I’ve been injured, I think there’s always a silver lining,” she said. “A lot of that is being able to reflect on knowing what all you still want. I want to win an NWSL championship. We have another cycle starting up, (we) qualified for the World Cup and Olympics and kind of go from there.
“I think it’s kind of nice because I’ve been able to take a step back and reflect on and off the field. I feel like there’s not really ever an ideal time to get an injury or have surgery, but I feel like if it was going to happen this year, it was probably the best time. I feel like it’s allowed me to really prepare and reflect on the next couple years out.”
Rose Lavelle got valuable experience in her first two games back
Gotham lost to Kansas City 2-1 on June 7 and beat Utah 3-0 on June 13. Gotham hosts Bay FC Saturday.
“It was such a long journey, so to finally get back on the field with Gotham and with my teammates was so fun,” she said. “Obviously, first game we lost, so that wasn’t fun at the end of it, but during I enjoyed it. And then our last game, it got kind of wild and we were down two men because of red cards by the end of it. So it was kind of funny because when I was going in, we were 11 people on the field, we were up 3-0, that was so fun. And then as soon as I started going in, then they were reviewing for a red card and I was like, ‘OK I’m gonna be running.’”
Rose Lavelle is now a USWNT veteran and not the new kid in town
When Lavelle helped the United States win the World Cup in 2019, she was a 24-year old phenom supported by older big names such as Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan. Now she’s one of the older, most experienced players on the roster. She has the most career caps for the national team (110) of anyone on the current 25-player roster. Only four other players have more than 35, and the average age of the roster is 24.5.
Lavelle has been a mentor to her Gotham teammates this year, and is looking forward to doing everything she can for the national team, even if she can’t play as much as she would like.
“I think it’s really allowed me to step into more of a leadership role off the field,” she said. “So how can I still be a good teammate to them? How can I still use my voice and help the team whatever way I can, so I feel like I grew so much in that area during this past six months and I feel like I can use that going into camp.
“It still feels weird for me to think of myself as a veteran player, but I am, and with the past couple of (USWNT) rosters, it’s been a really young new group. I’ve been that player before: The young inexperienced one. I always feel like I had such great veteran players to look up to, so I hope I can be that for them, help them feel a little more comfortable in an uncomfortable environment and hopefully set them up to be the best version of themselves in camps.”
Rose Lavelle loves her hometown and said it’s an ‘underrated soccer city.’
Lavelle follows FC Cincinnati, and she’s disappointed that the city didn’t get an NWSL franchise in the recent expansion window.
When asked about, she sighed and got emotional.
“I was so sad,” Lavelle said. “I would have loved to see Cincinnati get a team and I would love to still see them get a team at some point. I think it’s just such an underrated soccer city. The community and the friends rally around FCC so much, and I know it would have been the same for the women’s team.”
Lavelle will be 36 when the U.S. hosts the World Cup in 2031. There’s a possibility that Cincinnati could host games in the tournament. Whether she’s still playing for the national team or not, she hopes it happens.
“I don’t know if I’ll be around that long, but regardless, I always say Cincinnati is such an underrated soccer city,” Lavelle said. “I feel like so much talent comes out of it. I think what FCC’s been able to do has been so amazing and the way the city has rallied around all of the players that have come from Cincinnati that play in the league now, and FCC itself. So, I love any opportunity for people to be able to visit Cincinnati and see how amazing it is, and I think it would be such an amazing way to showcase the city, the soccer talent, the community.”